Yesterday's statements by the Fed representative Lael Brainard has led to the decline in the USD against major currencies, commodities and commodity currencies such as Canadian, Australian and New Zealand dollars.

Mrs Brainard said that monetary policy tightening appears to be less grounded due to the situation in the labour market, and current state of affairs requires cautious approach to this issue.

Other Fed representatives, such as Fed Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart President and Fed Minneapolis President Neil Kashkari also indicated that there was no urgent need to raise rate in the near future.

On Wednesday (01:45 (GMT+3) data on the current account balance of payments of New Zealand for Q2 will be published; on Thursday (01:30 and 01:45 (GMT+3) – business activity index in the manufacturing sector (PMI) of New Zealand for August. This index shows conditions in the business environment of the country and is considered an important indicator of overall economic conditions. New Zealand’s GDP for Q2 will also become known at this time.

Previous indicators were positive. In Q1 New Zealand’s GDP rose by 0.7% on monthly basis and by 2.8% on annual basis, PMI in the manufacturing sector was at the level of 55.8 in July. The rise in the index above 50 points shows the rise of the financial activity, which is a positive factor for the NZD.

Expectations for the interest rate hike in the USA have decreased, and, in case of the positive data from New Zealand, the pair NZD/USD may continue to rise. Interest rate decisions made in the United States and New Zealand will become known on 21 and 22 September respectively.